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OLYMPICS TORCH SHELL GAME IN SAN FRANCISCO PRECLUDES VIOLENCE

CLOSING TORCH CEREMONY MOVED TO AIRPORT

Norman Bellingham, right, chief Operating Officer of the United States Olympic
Committee, gives the torch to torchbearer Lin Li at the McCovey Cove, the start
of the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco Wednesday. San Francisco is the
sixth stop of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay outside the
Chinese mainland

Runners carried the Olympic torch through the streets of San Francisco on Wednesday, but on a truncated path more than a kilometer away from thousands of pro-Tibet and pro-China demonstrators who had lined the expected relay route.

Flanked by a massive police motorcade and officers brandishing batons, the torch was brought to two runners waiting at an unannounced location, a move that effectively thwarted both protesters and eager spectators.

SUPPORTER AND PROTESTER POINT OF VIEW

The crowds along the previously announced route included many people waving Chinese flags in support of China and the Beijing Games ahead of the run along the city’s waterfront, which was originally scheduled to start at 1 p.m. in its only North American stop.

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

A Tibetan protester dressed as a member of China’s army pretends to beat
on Tibetans during demonstration at a rally against the Olympic torch relay
at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco Wednesday.

But just minutes before it was to begin, San Francisco police told spectators that the 10-kilometer relay route would be several kilometers shorter than originally planned.

The torch disappeared into a warehouse as IOC officials and torch runners, surrounded by police, huddled to discuss alternate plans with city authorities.

A few minutes later, television cameras showed a number of people dressed in official Beijing 2008 track suits boarding a convoy of buses, which then drove out the back entrance of the warehouse complex with a police motorcycle escort.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had said the route could change minutes before or during the relay.

“The crowds were so large and there was so much uncertainty that we had to make a tough decision and it resulted in many people missing the opportunity of a lifetime,” San Francisco Newsom later exmplained.

“I’m sorry. I wanted this to be a perfect event. I want this world to be a perfect world. I want what happened in Paris not to have happened. I want what happened in London not to have happened.”

“We decided not to create major problems out in the street and decided to do this in a way that would be safe … We could easily be having a conversation about people being arrested or people being injured.”

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Less than an hour before the relay began, officials cut the original route nearly in half.

The planned closing ceremony at the San Francisco Bay waterfront was cancelled and moved to San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday evening. The flame was put directly onto a plane and not displayed.

Crowds of more than 10,000 spectators and protesters had gathered at the waterfront when news reached them that the location was no longer on the torch’s route.

The rival protest groups were given side-by-side permits to demonstrate, and there already were signs of tension and reports of minor scuffles and shouting matches, the CBC’s Laurie Graham reported. One pro-Tibet activist was detained ahead of the run, according to Reuters.

“A lot of Tibetan people are getting killed,” said Kunga Yeshi, 18, who had travelled to San Francisco from Salt Lake City, Utah. “The Chinese said they’d change if they got the Olympics, but they still won’t change.”

Across the street, a bus carrying dozens of pro-China supporters arrived.

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

One torchbearer showed her support for Tibetan independence by pulling out a small Tibetan flag hidden in her shirt sleeve when she was handed the Olympic flame

“The Chinese security and cops were on me like white on rice, it was no joke,” said Majora Carter, 41, who runs a nonprofit organization in New York. “They pulled me out of the race, and then San Francisco police officers pushed me back into the crowd on the side of the street.”

Security was tightened for the afternoon run along the city’s waterfront in the wake of demonstrations in London and violent protests in Paris.

An army of cops and a Chinese paramilitary unit were poised to escort the torchbearers through the streets of San Francisco.

The boosted security was prompted by violent protest that broke out last week when the torch was toted through Paris and London. Protesters attempted to rip the torch out of bearers’ hands and extinguish it.

Retired NYPD cop James Dolan, 64, retired FDNY Firefighter Richard Doran, 57, and South Bronx environmental activist Majora Carter, 41, were set to participate in today’s relay.

“I’m excited to do this for the 343 firefighters that died in 9/11,” Doran told the Daily News this morning. “I have mixed feelings. I’m esctatic and sad for my friends that I lost.”

But beefed-up security didn’t prevent the disruptions during the Paris segment of the relay, which had to be suspended at least five times as demonstrators threatened the torch.

A vehicle carried the Olympic flame for the last part of the route, but a runner was allowed to carry the torch for the final five meters into a sports stadium in the south of Paris.

Although many Olympic torch followers were still combing San Francisco in search of the famous flame, the relay route ended just before 4 p.m. today and the torch was taken to San Francisco International Airport, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Trent Cross said.

The closing ceremony for the Beijing Olympic torch that was scheduled to be held this afternoon at Justin Herman Plaza was canceled, said David Perry, a spokesman for the event.

Torch followers went on a wild goose chase to follow the relay that left pedestrians hanging at Marina and Lyon streets waiting for some kind of conclusion to the run.

Originally the relay was supposed to go along the Embarcadero, but around 1:30 p.m. was diverted to Van Ness and Bush streets, numerous blocks from the original route.

Protesters and supporters alike took vans, cabs, buses and bikes to try and find the route on Van Ness Avenue.

BAY STREET ROUTE

“I’d just like to touch someone who saw the torch,” said Honne Heller, who took a cab and a bus after waiting at Justin Herman Plaza for hours.

When the relay seemed to have ended at the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge, protesters and supporters crowded the streets that were lined with police.

Chants of “Free Tibet now” and other chants in support up China echoed throughout the area for about half an hour.

The one sentiment protestors and supporters seemed to share was a disappointment over the ambiguous end to the relay.

One local official made the reach to likening the Chinese President with the San Francisco Mayor.

The route change “was designed to please the government of China and give them the TV footage they want to portray to their people,” asserted District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

“The bottom line is that Newsom has deceitfully and repeatedly misled the public.

“Frankly, these are the tactics that the Chinese government uses on its people. It’s a move straight from the Richard Nixon playbook.

“I went down the route at 11 am, the supporters and protesters were all peaceful. This was a large decoy operation.

“Only Newsom played the people of San Francisco for fools. I don’t care if you were a supporter or an opponent of the torch, people brought their children, families and friends to San Francisco for a once in a lifetime experience.

“This was the biggest charade perpetuated by any mayor in anyone’s memory and possibly in the history of this town.”

The only difference between Newsom and President Hu Jintao is none. Both manipulate, are deceitful and do not run transparent governments.”

On Monday, three pro-Tibet activists climbed the suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge to protest arrival of the torch relay.

Three people protesting China’s human rights
record and the impending arrival of the Olympic
torch climbed up the Golden Gate Bridge in
San Francisco, Monday, April 7, 2008, and tied
Tibetan flags and two banners to its cables.

Photo by Jason Steinberg © 2008

See Related: BEJING OLYMPICS 2008